SHELTER FOR SHEEP SUMMER AND WINTER 323 



ground naturally damp and without facilities for drainage 

 would result in muddy surroundings, and these would 

 soon bring disaster to the flock. For such a location a 

 sandy soil is much preferable to a clay soil, but very fre- 

 quently it may not be possible to secure such a soil. 

 Where the soil is clay the aim should be to have the 

 ground slope away more or less from the sheds in as 

 many directions as it may be possible to secure. This 

 would be much preferable to placing the shed on clay 

 land so level and damp that underdrainage would be nec- 

 essary to remove the excess of water. In some areas of 

 the prairie it may not be easy to secure a suitable site, but 

 in such areas it is questionable if sheep can be made to 

 prosper. Where the soil and subsoil are both sandy the 

 conditions may not be objectionable, even though the 

 ground is level. But under any conditions, the aim should 

 be to secure something of a rise on which to erect the 

 sheds. 



Protection from cold winds, especially on the wind- 

 ward side, is much influenced by natural conditions. 

 Where the sheds may be located on the leeward side of a 

 natural or artificial grove, it may be secured with but little 

 additional outlay. When the grove is sufficiently dense 

 and the bluff is sufficiently high, the protection from wind 

 is so far very complete. It is even more complete when 

 the land on the sides of the bluff and below it is covered 

 with trees. In such instances the paddocks, but not neces- 

 sarily the yards, will be restricted to the leeward side of 

 the sheds. 



Protection from winds is very frequently more diffi- 

 cult and costly to secure than protection in other areas. 

 This is especially true when the country is bare of trees, 

 and when because of the dry conditions it may not be 

 easy to grow them. But in such areas bluff conditions 

 beside the streams such as those referred to above, are not 

 in all instances infrequent, and they have the further ad- 

 vantage of being near to a living water supply. Where 



